Association news

forthcoming Events

BEAT WALKS

The previous walks were at Pont y Ddol, Bodfari and Wern Ddu, and were very well attended and much appreciated by those who joined our river keeper on the river bank.

If any member was not able to join us on those days, but would like some help with the beats, please speak with any committee member - contact numbers are on the website.

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Finally, a big "thank you" to John our river keeper for organising the beat walks in such a professional way.

2020 BEAT WALKS WILL BE CONFIRMED NEARER THE TIME

Chris Porteous.

Annual

Fishing

Seminar

2020

3 Great Speakers For You This Year!

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This seminar will be of interest to everyone but especially our new members.

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Due to popular demand, after the success of our Fishing Seminars held over the last 5 years, we are organising another event at Oriel House Hotel, St Asaph LL17 0LW on Thursday 14th May 2020 at 7p.m.

Now that we have the two tickets for bank fishing at the Brenig and Alwen reservoirs three days a week, our first speaker this year is Jack Finney. Jack will bring a wealth of knowledge of Llyn Brenig, not only through his vocation as an experienced fish farmer but also as a very enthusiastic angler!

He'll be giving you all the information you'll need about the trout they stock in the Brenig and Alwen reservoirs, the hotspots, and the best tactics and flies to use.

And to complement our arrangement to fish on the Llangollen Maelor Angling club waters of the river Dee, our second speaker is Andrew Overend. Andrew has fished worldwide but his first love is the Welsh Dee, and he produces a very useful blog on his fishing exploits. You will find that he's very keen to share his extensive knowledge of fishing for trout and grayling on the Dee.

Our third speaker is our very own John Davidson. Few people, if any, have more knowledge of RASAAA beats, pools and fish lies than our river keeper, after all he has been in up to his chest with a tree lopper in most of them! John's talk will be of great interest to us all and especially to our newer members.

In addition Foxons Tackle have kindly agreed to attend and will be bring with them a selection of popular sea trout, brown trout, grayling & salmon flies which will be available for purchase. We will also have for purchase a small selection of second hand angling books donated to the Association by ex-members, and a Bring & Buy table of fishing tackle. If you have any old fishing tackle you wish to donate, please bring them along for the Bring and Buy table. All proceeds will go to the Association.

We are opening up this event to all of our members but please let us know if you will be attending so that arrangements can be made. If you have a friend who'd like to join our Association, book them in with you. Numbers are limited and places will be offered on a first come first served basis.

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Please reply to the Association Secretary Ian Macdonald by telephone 01745 813839, or by
e-mail ianandyvonne@aol.com

A small charge of £5 per adult member will be payable on the door. There is no charge for junior members. Tea and coffee will be served during the evening.

THE PROGRAMME:

Rhyl & St Asaph Angling Association Seminar

Secrets of Success at Llyn Brenig

Trout and Grayling Fishing on the Welsh Dee
Tactics & Techniques

RASAAA Association Beats, Pools & Fish Lies

A small selection of flies and tackle will be on
display by Foxons Tackle.

These will be available for purchase.

Shaun from the shop will be
available to give advice.

7pm to 7:30pm

"Bring & Buy" table of fishing tackle and books.

7:30 to 7:40pm

Introduction and Welcome by Chairman

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7:40 to 8:20pm

Llyn Brenig - An Experts View
Jack Finney

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8:20 to 9:00pm

Trout and Grayling Fishing on the Welsh Dee

Andrew Overend

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9 to 9.10 pm
Tea/Coffee Break

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9.10 pm to 9:50pm

Association Beats, Pools, and Fish Lies
John Davidson

Q & A Open Discussion Finish about 10pm

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2020 SEMINAR

POSTPONED

UNTIL

FURTHER

NOTICE

SAD LOSS OF A VALUED MEMBER July 6th 2018

Steve Jones of Denbigh, has died suddenly. Many of you will have met Steve at working parties or introduction days where he readily helped and was always good company.
Steve was a very able and qualified working party member. His skills and knowledge will be sorely missed by all members, even those that didn't know him will directly lose Steve's input when at the riverside or lakes. Losing fellow members is always hard but in Steve we have lost a very amiable, helpful and friendly chap who's life has ended far too early!

RAIDING THE TILL!
A cracking sea trout for Martin

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"The river Till is the first English tributary of the Tweed on the Scottish border.

Caught during the 2017 season, this mighty fish (in excess of 10lbs) was caught in a falling river still with quite a lot of colour in the middle of the day. The Till fishes well for sea trout both day and night!

I have to say this was my best quality sea trout ever, caught on a fox silver spinner size 3, on a rod sold to me that year by Shaun in Foxons!

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The net is a Sharpes of Aberdeen Seaforth sea trout net and measures 23" from the handle fork on a straight line to the bow frame.

The reel of course is an ABU 505 and was bought new in 1967 by me using my paper round money. It cost £15.00 and that was about the same amount my Dad was earning a week back then so it took a lot of saving up and of course an awful lot of papers delivered!

However I still use it as my reel of choice today and it still looks like new!

There's a story there too, I was saving for a Mitchell 300 (what with Dick Walker and the record carp etc) but walked out with the 505!"

Thanks to Martin Guiver for sending this. Hopefully a taster of some good sport this season.

(See photos in the gallery below)

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Pictured in the gallery, at Maes Elwy weir is our old friend Eugene Grube with river keeper John. Gene gave John a very nice fly rod and insisted on seeing John casting with it in the river. So off we trotted in John's 4x4 and I photographed and video'd proceedings.

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Success in 2017 for two of our Junior Members!

There is no better way to enthuse an angler, young or old, than if they actually catch fish, and two of our younger members enjoyed notable catches in the 2017 season, both on the River Elwy. Eight year-old Grace Macdonald caught her first ever sea trout on the Gypsy Lane beat, and the fish of a life-time for Fergus Guiver, age fourteen, was a fourteen pound fresh-run salmon, caught and safely returned in the Otter Pool on the Pont y Ddol beat.

Recognising the importance of encouraging young people to take up participation in angling, Rhyl & St Asaph Angling Association offers free Junior Membership to those under 16. Membership of the association in this category almost doubled during 2017 giving hope for continued success in future seasons.

RECORD-BREAKING BROWNIE CAUGHT ON OUR BEAT!

We're sure word's got around about the five and a half pound brown trout Shaun Ellis (Foxons) caught on our Maes Elwy beat in 2017.

Well, if it hadn't it will have now as Shaun (and the magnificent fish) was pictured in the March issue of Trout and Salmon Magazine.

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02/12/17 Memorial Ceremony for a long standing member.

Many anglers in North Wales will have fond memories of the late Martin Fowell, secretary of Rhyl AA and then Rhyl & St Asaph AA for over 22 years. Committee members were joined by Carol Fogerty and her husband Ken, for a ceremony in memory of Martin at his favourite river Elwy beat of Pont y Ddol, during which a Welsh slate memorial plaque was unveiled.

Hilarious fishing memories followed, both of Martin and of his fishing buddy Arthur Fogerty whose own memorial plaque now has company riverside. Someone quipped “Back together” and the pair were toasted, appropriately, with a nip of the finest malt!

ST KENTIGERN HOSPICE NETS DONATION FROM LOCAL ANGLING CLUB

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Rhyl and St Asaph Angling Association presented a cheque for £500 to St Kentigern Hospice from the sale of books donated to the Association by Brian Dowell of Prestatyn, a long serving and respected member of the Association.

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Brian kindly donated over 400 books connected with game fishing for salmon, sea trout and linked interests which he had collected over a lifetime. The proceeds from the sale of the books he wished to be divided between St Kentigern Hospice and the Association.

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His generosity is much appreciated. There are still a number of excellent fishing books available for sale and the Angling Association can be contacted through www.rhylandstasaphanglers.org

St. Kentigern Hospice, in St Asaph, is committed to meeting the needs of people, with active, progressive or advanced illness, within a warm, homely, safe, nurturing environment.

ABOUT US

Former E.A. fisheries expert visits our club

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Dr Tim Jacklin is Conservation Officer (Midlands) for the Wild Trout Trust. He kindly agreed to visit us in 2017 and, following a morning fishing for brown trout with John Davidson, he walked some of our beats accompanied by committee members.

Dr Jacklin passed on some helpful advice on brown trout habitat improvement. It became clear that he holds strong views regarding the stocking (of trout) in rivers and the adverse affect this can have on the indigenous trout population. He later attended our annual fishing seminar and gave a very interesting presentation, highlighting several successful improvement schemes - aspects from which we could cherry pick and implement through our club working parties.

Tim's early interest in the aquatic environment was encouraged by his grandfather and the purchase of a Woolworths fishing kit, which led to many school holidays pursuing the fish of Lincolnshire's rivers and ponds. This interest led to Nottingham University where Tim completed a degree in zoology followed by a PhD on the dynamics of juvenile coarse fish populations in the River Trent. A career in the fisheries section of the National Rivers Authority / Environment Agency followed and his experience includes running a programme of fisheries surveys, abstraction issues relating to hydropower and thermal power stations, habitat restoration projects, the restoration of salmon to the Trent and the construction of fish passes.

As part of his tour the Maes Elwy hydro scheme was visited and a detailed report from Tim has made interesting reading. More of this in due course.